Cult Liverpool hero Ragnar Klavan is set to rekindle his relationship with Merseyside as he prepares to play a role in Saturday's Eurovision Grand Final.
Klavan spent two years at Anfield after Jurgen Klopp signed him from Bundesliga side Ausburg in 2016. He made 53 appearances during his time with the Reds, with the highlights of his spell including a man of the match performance against Everton in the Merseyside Derby in December 2016, and a last minute winner against Burnley on New Year's Day 2018.
The Estonian centre-back left for Cagliari in 2018 and now spends his days in his homeland with Paide Linnameeskond. He continues to feature for the Estonian national team and will take on a special role for his country on Saturday.
Klavan has been named as Estonia's spokesperson to announce the results of the country's jury vote. Points will be split among the acts according to how Estonia's jury ranks them, with the top country receiving 12 points.
Last year, Estonia split their points between Sweden, Italy, Australia, Portugal, Greece, Finland, the United Kingdom, Azerbaijan, Lithuania and the Netherlands. The news that Klavan would be the spokesperson this year was announced last week.
Since leaving Liverpool, Klavan has also featured in the Estonian edition of Dancing with the Stars, a version of Strictly Come Dancing. Paired with Kerttu Tanav, Klavan reached the final of the competition.
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Klavan has been struggling to hide his delight at being able to return to Merseyside after five years away. And he has backed Estonia's act Alika to win the competition ahead of favourites Sweden and Finland.
"I went to the Liverpool Legends game recently, and it seemed like it had only been yesterday [that he was a Liverpool player himself]. All the emotions and feelings came flooding back and it was very cool to go back there again," he said last week.
“They’re such ardent fans and just want to be a part of you. Alika No. 1, – I’m torn between Finland or Sweden – rather Sweden No. 2, and then Finland No. 3. Finland has such a specifically special song that it can surprise."
Sweden and Finland both progressed from Semi-Final 1 on Tuesday, with Estonia competing in Semi-Final 2 on Thursday night. Twenty acts qualify from the semi-finals to join the Big Five and last year's winners Ukraine in the final.
The Big Five are France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom and are the five countries who give Eurovision the most amount of funding. Liverpool is hosting the competition on behalf of Ukraine, with the war in that country preventing them from hosting.
